Double King Pede

Double King Pede is a variation of the card game King Pedro
(pronounced as "Peedro"). It is a trick-taking game like Hearts and
Spades, but it is more like the well-known game commonly called
Pitch. Double King Pede is known to be played in Central Vermont,
but no where else.

The game is played with four people playing two against two. A
53-card deck is used consisting of a standard 52-card pack with a
single Joker added. A game is typically played to 500 points. For
each hand, players bid to name the trump suit to earn the kitty and
to lead the first trick. Both teams earn points for the cards taken
in tricks. A failure to reach a bid deducts the bid from the team's
score.

The rank of cards is Ace (high) through 2 and the Joker ("Snoozer")
is included as the lowest trump. The King, 9 ("Sancho") and 5
("Pedro") cards of the same colored suit as trump are considered the
"left" versions of the "right" trump cards. They are considered trump
and ranked below their trump suit counterpart. For instance, the 5 of
trump is the "right Pedro", while the 5 of the opposite suit is the
"left Pedro" and is ranked just under the 5 of trump suit.

The points from tricks are counted as follows:

1 point for "high", the highest trump card (Ace), and

25 points for each right and left King,

1 point for the Jack of trump,

1 point for "game", the 10 of trump,

9 points for each right and left 9,

5 points for each right and left 5,

1 point for "low", the lowest trump card (2).

18 points for the Joker,

Each player is dealt 12 cards, leaving 5 remaining cards called
the "kitty".

Players can bid up to 100 or pass. The auction continues around
the table until three players pass. A player who passes cannot bid
again.

The highest bidder announces trump and takes the kitty. Players
discard until their hands count 6. Players cannot discard trump
cards. A player with more than 6 trump cards must ask their partner if
they can take a stated number of trump cards. The player answers with
the number of cards their hand can take while avoiding having to
discard trump cards in result. The player passes the agreed number of
trump cards and the partner takes the cards into their hand and
discards the same number. If a player is unable to pass their extra
trump cards to their partner, then they must announce and show the
discarded trump cards to the table.

With cards passed the bid winner leads the first trick. Players
must follow suit, but can play trump when they are out cards in the
suit led. The winner of the trick takes the cards and places them
facedown and leads the next trick.

After the last trick, the points in tricks are scored starting
with the bidding team. The deal shifts to the left.

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